Monthly Archives: July 2013

Well, there have certainly been a lot of Google searches for this subject! For all of you sign designers who really want more control over the look (background) image of your LG EZSign 2.0 Software template selections, read on!

YES, you CAN create templates yourself. It is easy if you follow the tutorial outlined below, and start with one of the default templates in your LG EZSign Editor 2.0! As a sign designer, you already have all of the tools needed to execute this plan 🙂 And yes, if you want to make new templates to ADD to your collection for free, you can do that!

Here’s the process, and feel free to send an email if you need any clarifications. But I think this is pretty straightforward. As to why it works, it is simply because a .cts file is “calling out” the images. Don’t worry about programming language, just follow these steps:
1) Open up your LG EZSign Program, and begin by selecting Make Content.

2) From the default templates that populate the next window, select a template based on the LAYOUT that you want. For my purposes, I am selecting a layout which does not include a large TV /Video zone. This one was for a dress shop, perhaps. I am going to modify it to make it a travel theme for a photography safari.

Once you select a template that has the zones you desire, click “Next”.

This will show you the template and of course the text and images you can edit later. For now, we just want a project file we can safely change.

So, on the next screen, click the “Save As” button. This will allow you to rename this file automatically, and save in the default folder assigned by the LG EZSign software.

Make a note of this path- you will need it! Tip: Click any of the images in this blog to see a larger version.

Next step: Browse to this “saved content” folder and open up the current background images (there are two) to view and note their size. You should see dimensions of 1366px wide by 768px high. Also note the placement of any “boxes” or color blocks that became the background for a portion of text. Some templates also have a transparent block or zone for the TV display feed or video.

Note: There are always TWO background images for each template. This is because the screen will display the alternate background periodically to prevent “burn in” of the display. This is best practices! It also means you will likely want to modify TWO background images. I will show you one here.

Create or select a new image you want to use for the template background. Here’s my image with the elephants, courtesy of Pixabay.com, and to the left is the original background. Save your new background with the same name as the old image, in the same folder. Basically, you have copied over the original, but don’t worry. The default template is still available in the library, as this folder is just your saved templates (duplicates with your edits).

Open up your LG EZSign program again (it can be helpful to close when you have edited your content folder, to force the software to populate with the new images.) Click on “Recent Content” to find your new template. Click “Open” and select the template you named and saved at the start of this tutorial.

Don’t worry when you see the original thumbnail there with the old default background. The file will automatically update with a new thumbnail after you preview the file. In many of these themes, there are two or more images that scroll or rotate through the playback of the sign. In my example, there are two image blocks, each of which features two images, for a total of four. Take a look and even replace the smaller jpg images that are part of the template. Those are simple to replace via the editor – just delete, click “+” plus sign to add a new image, browse to its location and insert.

Here’s what my work in progress looks like:

Now I want to add something of a “header” where the grey bar was in the original background. See the image above. This is so that when the software editor places text in that location, there is a background that adds a little bit of definition. I selected (again from Pixabay.com) a film strip image that I cropped to size, and nested into the top left corner of my elephant image. Again, I saved my new background with the same name, and opened in the EZSign editor. Voila! My new template is live! With just a few edits of text and color, I now have a custom Photographer’s Safari template for my LG EZSign system! (Of course, you will likely want to follow the same steps to make the second, alternate, background custom as well.) Here is the final result: